A couple of months ago, I attended a dog training class. It was the first night, and as my husband and I walked in from the parking lot, I saw a round faced, older gray-haired gentleman who I did not think was very friendly looking. He greeted us by saying “Hi” and directing us into a building as he continued to talk with some of his friends. I was hoping like heck he wasn’t the trainer, because if he was, I wasn’t very confident he knew how to train dogs with anything other than force and fear. I knew his personality type well.

Read moreWe went into the building and sat on a bench, along with the other participants. A young brunette, probably in her 30s, approached us and asked us to fill out a form. She also asked for payment for the class. She was friendly.

I was on edge at this point wondering if she was going to train the dogs, or if this other guys was, because if was him, I wasn’t very confident that we would get along.

As other people walked in, the woman introduced her dog “Champ” to everyone. Since it was the first night, no one brought their dog, but strangely Champ wasn’t allowed to greet us. She had Champ on a mat in the arena, about 20 feet away from everyone. He had on a leash (I couldn’t tell if he was tied down or not), and had a prong collar on. He was very uptight and nervous. He was also whimpering and whining. He was clearly unhappy.

I asked how long she had Champ. She told me he was 5 years old and that she took him through this training several years ago and liked it, and so she decided to teach here as well. She then said that Champ wasn’t happy that he had to stay on his mat. That was very obvious.

I was perplexed why she didn’t let him socialize, if he was well trained. Well trained dogs should respond to commands immediately, if needed, and should be good with people. The goal of training is to give dogs and their owners freedom, after all.

I thought back to another training class I went to where the dogs were sociable and friendly, and were allowed off the leash almost exclusively because the instructors loved to show the magic of their commands. I started wishing I still lived nearby that facility.

I then overheard Champ’s owner, the young brunette, talk about their approach to training, because someone was talking about a difficult issue and I heard her say, “Dean will get them to do what is required, if that is what he has to do. Sometimes that is what it takes.” My ears perked up, but I couldn’t hear anymore.

I had called and asked about this training before coming, and the woman on the phone didn’t seem to know much now that I was at the facility. I must have gotten a secretary as they were a big boarding facility in the area. I had asked about prong collars and she said they didn’t use them. I asked about dominant methods and she assured me they only used positive reinforcement. Clearly, she had not attended training or she knew if she said that their clientele for a class would drop in half.

I looked at my husband at this point and looked at Champ. “Do you feel good about this class?” I asked my husband. He always depends on me for a good read and he just said, “If you are uncomfortable, we can leave.” I whispered in his ear, “I have bad feelings, but I want to give it a couple more minutes.”

I didn’t want to react to what I had seen so far. I wanted to make sure I gave this place fair consideration.

I was getting nervous and edgy just watching Champ whimper and moan. It wasn’t helping things. Champ was actually talking me out of this class the more I sat there. He was miserable and he was making me miserable.

The man who greeted us then walked through the door. I could see by the responses and his words spoken to others, he was the trainer. He had a very nervous dog by his side, too. It was a black dog with hair like a golden retriever, probably a year old. This dog also had a prong collar on and was clearly not happy either. The dog didn’t know what to do and this man held him in tight. The dog was on edge and very unsure. It was another bad sign. It was the tipping point for me.

I started thinking: These are the dogs they trained? They are miserable dogs, unable to socialize without a leash. What type of training is this? I remembered thinking of my original impression of the guy who greeted me: fear and force.

Both dogs have prong collars on — is this what this guy needs to get his dogs to listen? If this is the type of training this guy teaches, I’m out of here! His dogs are his examples, and I realized they were not what I was looking to achieve.

I stood up in front of 25 people, walked up to the young woman and said loudly for everyone to hear, “If these two dogs here are what your trained dogs are like, stressed, insecure and unhappy, this is not the type of training I care to participate it. I’m sorry. I want a happy, socialized dog when I finish training, who listens to commands without a leash and a prong collar. Can I have my money back?”

You could feel the room gasp as I said that. It became silent. The woman was tense and didn’t know what to do, and then decided to give me my money back. Sure, my reaction was socially out of the norm–perhaps shocking to those around me, but I was annoyed that other people weren’t questioning the body language of the “trained dogs”. It spoke volumes to me. It was getting me angry the more I thought about it.

I have since found an amazing class and haven’t regretted my decision one minute. My goal of speaking out was to get others to question what they saw. I hope I succeeded in helping other dogs find a much better solution!